Chemical company breaks new ground, creates fuel from waste

Chemical company INEOS Bio "announced Wednesday that it had produced commercial quantities of ethanol from wood waste and other nonfood vegetative matter," Matthew Wald reports for The New York Times. So far, only a small amount has been produced, but "if ethanol can be produced at reasonable cost from abundant nonfood sources, like yard trimmings or household trash, it could displace fuel made from oil, and that oil, and its carbon, could stay in the ground, reducing the amount greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, experts say." 

"The Department of Energy hailed the development as the first of a kind," Wald reports. Energy secretary, Ernest Moniz, said in a statement: “Unlocking the potential for the responsible development of all of America’s rich energy resources is a critical part of our all-of-the-above energy strategy.” 

Using methane gas from a nearby landfill, "The process begins with wastes — wood and vegetative matter for now, municipal garbage later — and cooks it into a gas of carbon monoxide and hydrogen," Wald reports. "Bacteria eat the gas and excrete alcohol, which is then distilled. Successful production would eliminate some of the 'food versus fuel' debate in the manufacturing of ethanol, which comes from corn." Peter Williams, chief executive of INEOS, told Wald, "Biomass gasification has not been done like this before, nor has the fermentation." (Read more)